The nature of the African continent is such that environmental problems are rising steadily and in many cases are caused by a lack of good policies and investment in the environment. In some other cases, resource-rich nations in the continent have largely failed to translate their endowments into mass wealth and development, giving rise to what scholars have tagged resource curse and/or affliction. New environmental problems such as climate change continue to impact on the daily lives of the African man and woman, yet mitigation and adaptation policies and strategies are nascent and in most cases poor. While scholars have argued that new environmental realities be a developmental problem, in actual cases within the continent, the political class places very weak emphasis on this conceptualisation of environment.
AYIKA: Journal of Environment and Politics in Africa has a mandate to extend the frontiers of knowledge on issues on the environment-politics complex and to be Africa’s foremost environment and politics journal. It is therefore with profound happiness to bring out the first issue of the journal As a new journal, it intends to carve a niche for itself in the fields of political science, international relations, sociology, philosophy, law, environmental science and other relevant ones. Articles featuring in this inaugural issue of the AYIKA: Journal of Environment and Politics in Africa have been made through standardised procedures of academic publications. In this wise, we want to place on record our appreciation of all that was involved in the making of the issue, the reviewers, contributors, and many others whose names we are denied by space to mention. It is our utmost believe that each article featuring in this inaugural issue of the journal will contribute to knowledge in the environmental politics of Africa.